The use of lead frames to manufacture a plurality of semiconductor components in volume is well known. Generally, an electronic component made with a semiconductor chip has a plurality of lead wires which are bonded to the chip and to the lead frame in a wire bonding process which is laborious, time consuming and relatively expensive to practice. Thus, it is desirable to continually seek improvements in the attachment and the electrical bonding of semiconductor chips to lead frames during electronic component manufacture.
It is also known in the manufacture of electronic components using semiconductor chips to bend certain parts of a lead frame so that a semiconductor chip or chips can be more effectively coupled to the lead frame in the production of an electronic component. Examples of this technique are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,252,864 and 4,446,375.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,864 describes a lead frame which provides a tab configuration which allows certain tabs to be bent in a direction normally of the plane of the lead frame so that a pair of tabs will be in coplanar relationship and a third tab will lie in a plane which is parallel to the plane of the pair of tabs. The chip coupled with the tabs is first soldered to the tabs before the bending of the tabs occurs. Lead wires are used to couple the chip to the lead frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,375 shows a lead frame used for making optocouplers in which parts of the lead frame. are bent at two locations to cause a first tab to overlie a second tab with the tabs being provided with semiconductor chips thereon. Thus, an optocoupler formed from the two chips is defined by the two face-to-face chips.
Other patents pertinent to this art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,158, 4,160,308 and 4,322,628.
While the foregoing patents disclose lead frames which can simplify to some degree the manufacture of electronic components using semiconductor chips, they are not suitable for the high speed production of electronic diodes made from a chip and requiring only a pair of terminals coupled with the chip. The present invention is directed to satisfying a need for further improvements in lead frames of the type used for the manufacture of electronic components.